Thursday, July 29, 2010

the best thing about having a csa this year is that i have found so much new produce to cook with (hello, kohlrabi rocks!). i only blog about one tenth of the things i make. seriously, if you are in kansas city and are looking for a quality produce csa, i urge you to check out greeley gardens. every saturday i jaunt down to the city market for pick up and rush home to start plotting and scheming what to make with all the goodies in my bag. purple potatoes have been in my crop a few times, and i whipped up this tasty little salad a couple weeks ago.

6-8 small purple potatoes

1 cup brussels sprouts

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

caper dressing:

1½ tablespoons earth balance, softened

1/2 cup cashews

1½ tablespoons jarred capers

1½ tablespoons vegan mayo

1¾ tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon caper brine

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 small clove garlic, minced

cut up the potatoes and steam for approximately 15-20 minutes. while they are steaming, slice brussels sprouts into halves and toss with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. arrange them on a foil-lined cookie sheet and broil on low for 5-7 minutes on each side.

while potatoes and brussels are cooling, mix caper dressing ingredients into a food processor and blend well. toss brussels sprouts and potatoes with caper dressing until well coated and sprinkle with vegan parmesan. serve slightly warm.

Friday, July 23, 2010

if you follow my blog at all, you probably know i'm a cabbage junkie. i eat the stuff by the bowlful. last year i bought a airlock fermenter so i can make my own gallon jars of homemade kraut. the best part - lots of extra cabbage (i always overestimate). so i put my overstock to good use, and decided to make up a batch of vegan kimchi (most recipes have some sort of fish sauce). let me preface this by saying i don't know how authentically korean this recipe is, but it makes the kimchi flavor i like, so i'm sticking with it. the one thing i don't add is sugar, which a lot of recipes call for. but again, if you read my blog, you know that sugar and i are like oil and water - we just weren't meant to go together. i've included pics at the bottom that document the process of making this deliciousness.

1 head of napa cabbage

2 baby bok choy

1 carrot, shredded

other veggies: green peppers, daikon, scallions

1¼ tablespoons kosher salt

3 cups water

for the kimchi paste:

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon korean chili powder

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cloves ginger, minced

3 tablespoons water

start by prepping the cabbage. cut a small v into the thick part of the stem and remove. then cut it crosswise (see picture below). put cabbage in sterile bowl, and toss with about 1¼ tablespoons of kosher salt. next, cut up the bok choy, and mix in with the cabbage. add the water and let sit at room temperature for about a hour or two. in the meantime, mince and slice the other veggies. after cabbage has tenderized in the brine, drain and rinse the cabbage off several times and taste a small piece. if it's too salty, submerge cabbage in water without salt and let sit for 15 or 20 minutes to desalt and then drain. it's sort of a balance that you will figure out after a couple times making it.

in a separate bowl, mix up all the paste ingredients except for the sesame seeds. put all the veggies in the bowl with the cabbage and mix in paste. you can do it by hand by using gloves, or i just use a large sterile plastic mixing spoon. make sure all the cabbage is coated, and then toss in the sesame seeds and mix them in. in a sterile quart jar, start packing the kimchi in, making sure to press down and push out any air. once the kimchi is packed in, pour in the remaining kimchi brine that was generated by mixing the paste. make sure the cabbage completely covered with slurry.

at this point, you can eat it, pop it in the fridge or let it ferment (more traditional). to ferment, make sure all cabbage is covered with slurry (but not completely to the top), cap it, and put in a cool dark place (slightly below room temperature) for a few days before moving to fridge. if needed, you can fill a ziploc bag with water and set it on top to submerge the veggies before you cap it. i've done both, but fermented foods certainly have some benefits. eat with noodles, rice, dumplings, in soups, in nori rolls, as a side, etc.

Monday, July 19, 2010

i love where i live. we moved from a really cool 1930s house to this one about four years ago, and i love that we live a little off the beaten path. we have land - which means we see deer, turkey and beavers and lots of toads, snakes, and field mice all the time. in addition to our plentiful garden, we also have wild strawberries, morels and mulberries out the wazoo. when the mulberries ripen, i take my colander outside and just fill it up, over and over again. don't worry - there are plenty left for the birds, i only pick the ones that i can reach, and i still have to freeze them because there is no way i could eat them all before they'd go bad.

3/4 cup red mulberries

1 banana

1/2 cup baby spinach

1/4 cup water

ice (optional)

put everything in a regular blender and go for it. green smoothie tip - don't put the spinach in first. :) also, my mulberries were frozen ones from the late spring harvest, but if you are using fresh ones, i'd throw in a couple ice cubes.

ps - if you know anything about glassware, i bought these glasses in an antique store about 5 years ago. it's a set of 6 tumblers. i don't know anything about them, if they are vintage or not, but whatever wisdom you might have, i'd love to know.

Monday, July 12, 2010

i've been a terrible blogger lately - summer is just so crazy busy. the good news is that i'm still cranking out lots of recipes, i'm just not getting them posted as quickly as i'd like. like a lot of vegans, finding a wrap or tortilla that doesn't contain l-cysteine has presented its challenges to me. luckily our local store started carrying joseph's flax, oat bran & whole wheat tortillas, and i snatched them up in a hurry. they were pretty decent, although they did start to dry out a little after a few days. you can see a few tears in the wrap, but that could also be because i overstuffed them. at any rate, i was just happy to have a wrap to stuff all these yummy ingredients in.

1/2 cup wild rice

6 oz of tofu (marinated)

1/3 avocado, sliced

1/2 carrot shredded

1 kale leaf, shredded

1/2 cup salsa

1 joseph's flax wrap

tofu marinade:

1/2 cup wheat free tamari

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

1/2 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

mix the tofu marinade ingredients in a bowl. crumble the tofu and mix with marinade for a least 2 hours.

cook wild rice according to directions. about 15 minutes before rice is done, heat a large non-stick skillet and pour both the tofu and the remaining marinade in and sauté on medium-high until liquid dissipates. turn the heat down to medium-low and continue to fry the tofu, using a spatula to flip over occasionally. this creates a nice crispy outside on the tofu. after it reaches your level of crispiness, turn off heat and let cool. the rice should be done as well, and should cool for about 5 minutes before placing in the wrap.

you will want to use a small dash of olive oil to massage your kale - this will remove the cardboard stiffness that raw kale can have. layer the rice, avocado, tofu, carrot, and kale. add salsa to your liking and wrap like a burrito.